Patriots offense improving, but still a work in progress

Tom Brady goes into Monday night's game with a 28-3 career record against the Buffalo Bills, and that includes a loss in a meaningless season finale in which he played only the first half. Associated Press/Charles Krupa

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Buffalo Bills Coach Sean McDermott raised some eyebrows last week when he mentioned that Tom Brady’s weapons in 2018 “outnumber” his options in years past.

Yes, it’s straight from the Bill Belichick playbook of showering an upcoming opponent with praise.

It also might be true.

The presence of Josh Gordon changes the New England offense immensely. Not since Randy Moss has Brady had such a gifted receiver on the perimeter. The running game is rolling. Rob Gronkowski hasn’t found the end zone since Week 1, but he’s still a massive problem for defenses. And Julian Edelman, after his four-game suspension, immediately stepped back into his long-held role of third-down menace and chain-mover.

McDermott also mentioned Cordarrelle Patterson and Phillip Dorsett, who have seen reduced roles as Gordon and Edelman have been incorporated. Patterson is mostly a gadget player, but there aren’t many athletes like him in the league. Dorsett, a first-round pick in 2015, expanded his game in the offseason to become a better all-around receiver.

“They’ve got a full crew of guys that they continue to roll through,” McDermott said. “Those guys could probably start on any team out there.”

Brady believes this unit still is finding itself.

“We haven’t had that much time with the whole group together,” Brady said. “Between Jules, Josh, Gronk, Sony (Michel), I think that’s still in its infancy, in a way. We’ve got a lot of room to grow. I think we’re trying to work it every day in practice to see if we can make improvements from week to week.”

To Brady’s point, the Patriots have played seven games. They’ve had the above foursome – Edelman, Gordon, Gronkowski, and Michel – on the field for a full game just twice.

Last week, they were without two of the four. Gronkowski, dealing with back spasms, didn’t make the trip to Chicago. Michel got twisted up awkwardly on the first play of the second quarter against the Bears and did not return.

Gronkowski indicated Saturday that he expected to travel to Buffalo for Monday night’s game against the Bills. Michel returned to practice Saturday, but his timetable is unclear.

Bottom line: We’re nearly at the midway point of the season, and Brady has had limited snaps with the core of his offense fully intact.

“You could have everyone together, and then someone gets hurt, and then you’ve got to incorporate someone new, and then you’re starting all over again,” Brady said. “It’s just constant adjustment. I think that’s the big challenge with football, is a lot of guys are playing and competing, so a lot of attrition takes a toll at some point, and you’ve just got to try and do the best that you can do over the course of a long season.”

“It’s not a one-game season. It’s 16 games, four months, and you’ve got to put it together over the course of a long year.”

The one constant has been James White, who is on pace for 1,300 yards from scrimmage – which would nearly double his career high – and 16 touchdowns. As other important skill position players have filtered in and out of the lineup, White has been Brady’s go-to option.

In recent years, and even more so this season, Brady has shown his admiration for White.

“I know I talk about James White a lot,” he said last week on WEEI. “But you just couldn’t ask for a better player, a better teammate.”

The most recent addition, Gordon, has a long way to go before he reaches White’s status with Brady. But the quarterback seems pleased with Gordon’s progress.

“I just think it’s so impressive, in my view, what he’s done in a short period of time and how he’s assumed this specific role in our offense,” Brady said. “Last week – I don’t know how much participation it was – but it was a lot. That’s a very challenging thing to do. The receiver position in our offense takes years for most guys to understand and learn nuances and intricacies of, not only our plays, but how to get open within the scheme, how to gain my trust. And he’s done it in such a short period of time.”

The Patriots play three more games before their bye week: at Buffalo, home against Green Bay and at Tennessee. Ideally, they’ll have the full crew healthy and clicking by mid-November.

In the meantime, the results haven’t been too shabby.

The Patriots are searching for their fifth consecutive outing with 38 or more points. That would be an unprecedented stretch, even for a team that has dominated offensively for nearly two decades. The record-setting 2007 team only did it in three consecutive games.

Next up for an offense that is “still in its infancy”: the wilting Buffalo Bills.

“It always seems to come down to some big momentum play at some point,” Brady said. “It’s a Monday night game for them. I think it’s just a huge game for us, a division game on the road, and we don’t take anyone lightly, certainly not this team.”

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